Recent changes to the law have now made psychological abuse within a relationship illegal.

The offence of coercive control now recognises that domestic abuse can take several forms and is not strictly limited to physical violence.

Your partner isolating you from the people you love is against the law (Photo: Shutterstock)

Changes to legislation

The changes now outlaw a number of things that were not previously covered by existing legislation, meaning emotional abuse of a partner is now also illegal.

Coercive control is the psychological abuse of a partner, which can be committed through threats and restrictions, as well as physical violence, and carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

In Scotland, changes to the Domestic Abuse bill were passed by Parliament earlier this year, making psychological abuse and coercive controlling behaviour within a relationship a criminal offence.

The bill was amended to include behaviour that could not easily be prosecuted using the existing criminal law.

The laws have now been enforced in England and Wales, with the amendments making the following 11 acts towards a partner illegal:

1. Sharing sexually explicit images of you – either online or not

New laws surrounding ‘revenge porn’ make it illegal for someone to share intimate photographs of you with anyone, whether that is on or offline. It is illegal for someone to share intimate photographs of you with anyone else. READ MORE: This shocking illegal fly-tip site near Havant is the area’s ‘worst ever’

2. Restricting your access to money

Even if they are the breadwinner, the law says one partner cannot stop the other from accessing money and should not give them ‘punitive allowances’.

Constant insults from a partner might not be typically thought of as domestic abuse, but under the new law, persistent name-calling, mocking and other forms of insulting behaviour are now illegal.

4. Stopping you from seeing friends or family

If your partner continually isolates you from the people you love – whether this is in the form of monitoring or blocking your calls or emails, telling you where you can or cannot go, or preventing you from seeing your friends or relatives – it is against the law. Your partner isolating you from the people you love is against the law

5. Scaring you

Your partner might not physically assault you, but if they are doing enough to frighten you, they are committing an offence.

Women’s Aid says this can include, but is not limited to:

- Making angry gestures Using physical size to intimidate

- Shouting you down

- Destroying your possessions

- Breaking things

- Punching walls

- Wielding a knife or a gun

- Threatening to kill or harm you, your children or family pets

- Threats of suicide

6. Threatening to reveal private things about you

Whether your partner is saying they will tell people details about your health or sexual orientation, repeated threats to reveal personal and private information is a form of abuse.

7. Putting tracking devices on your phone

The Crown Prosecution Service says it is illegal under the new legislation to ‘monitor a person using online communication tools or spyware’. Monitoring a person using online communication tools or spyware is illegal under the new legislation.

If your partner is reading your Facebook messages without permission, or insisting they track your devices, it is against the law.

8. Being extremely jealous

If your partner persistently accuses you of cheating, simply for looking at another person, then this could constitute grounds for prosecution. Police say ‘extreme jealousy, including possessiveness and ridiculous accusations of cheating’ all come under the new legislation.

9. Forcing you to obey their rules

A relationship should be a partnership, with neither partner having control over the other. If you are forced to abide by rules set by your partner, it could mean they are committing a crime. The Crown Prosecution Service says these include rules which ‘humiliate, degrade or dehumanise the victim’, while Women’s Aid says examples include your partner telling you that you have no choice in decisions.

10. Controlling what you wear

Your partner taking control over any part of your life is highlighted in the new legislation, including restricting who you see and where you go. Controlling what you wear or how you look could also now be grounds for prosecution under the changes.

11. Making you do things you don’t want to

Your partner forcing you to commit crimes, neglecting or abusing your children, or forcing you not to reveal anything about your relationship to the authorities all count as abuse.

Forcing you to have sex when you don’t want to, look at pornographic material, or have sex with others also falls under this bracket.

Tackling domestic abuse head-on

‘These new powers mean this behaviour, which is particularly relevant to cases of domestic abuse, can now be prosecuted in its own right,’ said Alison Saunders, director of public prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service.

‘Police and prosecutors are being trained to recognise patterns of abusive behaviour which can be regarded as criminal abuse. ‘We will do everything in our power to tackle this abhorrent crime.’